An defense minister has revealed that the Ministry of Defence is actively examining the potential security risks associated with Chinese-made cars, while staff have been advised to avoid discussing secret information in all cars.
Safety Guidance for MoD Personnel
During a recently aired interview on LBC, Luke Pollard addressed reports that MoD officials have been instructed not to discuss secret material while riding in Chinese cars.
He said that the MoD is “investigating” Chinese vehicles within its fleets, however stressed that safety is a concern in every modern vehicles.
We have a collection of tens of thousands of vehicles in the MoD and Chinese ones account for a very small number.
However regardless of if you’re traveling in a vehicle from China or a non-Chinese car, our instruction to our people is to avoid connecting MoD technology into their vehicle, to avoid having discussions at a secret level in any kind of vehicle, due to the increasing threats of surveillance that exist in all vehicle, to restrict those confidential conversations in secure locations. This is a prudent and sensible thing for anyone concerned about security.
When it was suggested that it would be wise for the MoD to stop using all cars from China, the minister replied: That is precisely what we are looking into at the moment.”
Wider Security Context
This revelation comes as claims from Norway and Denmark have alerted the United Kingdom to the existence of multi-purpose kill switches in Chinese-made buses, which could enable the Chinese government to disable public transport and bring chaos to public transit.
Furthermore, a Russia intelligence vessel has been directing laser beams at Royal Air Force aircrew, described as a “extremely risky” act by government representatives.
This wider security situation highlights the significance of strong measures and caution in every aspects of government operations, from transport use to discussions habits.